Rotterdam tournament director Richard Krajicek reveals the tournament dreams of hosting Novak Djokovic again. Djokovic, 35, has played in Rotterdam three times. In 2006, Djokovic made his Rotterdam debut and reached the quarterfinals before losing to Radek Stepanek.
In his next two appearances in Rotterdam, in 2007 and 2010, Djokovic reached the semifinals. After Djokovic was allowed to return to Australia at the start of this season, Krajicek knew that there was no chance for the Serb to play in next week’s tournament..
“In fact, we prepare an invitation for Djokovic every year. We thought: if he is not allowed to enter Australia again, we will definitely talk to him. But when we found out that he would be allowed to participate in the Australian Open, we already knew that he would not come to Rotterdam.» Krajicek said, for we love tennis.
Djokovic hopes to play in Indian Wells, Miami
Last year, Djokovic missed three Masters tournaments in the United States due to his vaccine stance. Since unvaccinated foreigners are not yet allowed to enter the United States, Djokovic applied for special permission to travel to the United States for the upcoming Masters events in Indian Wells and Miami..
Djokovic’s brother, Djordje, revealed the news on Friday. “Unfortunately, it is something that is out of our hands. Novak needs to get special permission to enter, considering the US still doesn’t allow unvaccinated foreigners into the country, which is incredible, considering we’ve seen huge sporting rallies with unvaccinated athletes all over the world.
There are a few days left until the decision, we hope for a positive result,» Djordje Djokovic told Tanjug. In May, the United States will end its current vaccination rules and that means that Djokovic will most likely be allowed to return to the United States. Open later this year and play in all four Grand Slams.
